Run, Run, Run!!

The evening of the second day of sparring.

Yunju and Kimimaro faced each other on the training grounds, their shadows stretched long by the setting sun. A bone sword burst from Kimimaro's palm, while Yunju's Hidden Shadow Snake Hands shot from his sleeves. Bone and snakes collided in midair with crisp clacks.

"Enough."

Orochimaru's voice came from the entrance beneath the snake skull. Both withdrew their attacks at once and looked in that direction. Orochimaru stood in the shadows, Kabuto supporting one of his arms. His expression could not be seen.

"Kimimaro, Yunju." Orochimaru's voice was steadier than it had been a few days ago, though its trailing notes still carried unmistakable weakness. "Go meet them. The Sound Four should be arriving soon."

Kimimaro put away his bone sword and gave a slight nod.

"Yunju." Orochimaru turned his gaze toward him. "Work with Kimimaro."

"Understood."

The two turned and headed outside the base.

They passed through the cave beneath the snake's mouth and through a narrow crack in the valley. Outside, the sky had already darkened, and the moon showed half its face from behind the clouds.

Kimimaro walked ahead, his pace unhurried but steady.

"I'll wait for them on the plain ahead," Kimimaro said without looking back. "You go to the rear and see if you can coordinate with them. Get them back here to regroup early."

Yunju glanced at Kimimaro.

Kimimaro's tone was calm, but Yunju heard what lay beneath that calm—confidence, even arrogance. Kimimaro believed he did not need to personally meet them; waiting alone on the plain would be enough. As for Yunju, he was merely to run an errand in the rear and help them return sooner. Nothing more.

"Fine," Yunju said.

Kimimaro said nothing else. His figure flashed, vanishing into the night.

Yunju looked in the direction Kimimaro had gone, then at the road he himself was meant to take. Moonlight spilled over the forest path ahead, while shadows of trees swayed in the wind on either side.

He took a deep breath and stepped forward.

This was a road to freedom.

He knew that better than anyone.

Kimimaro had sent him to the rear out of trust, but also contempt—trust that he would not run, contempt for the idea that he was strong enough to cause trouble on his own during the mission.

Yunju's steps grew faster until they became a sprint. He leaped through the treetops, heading toward Konoha.

Yunju sped through the forest with his Body Flicker Technique pushed to its limit, moving nearly as fast as an ordinary jonin. The wind howled past his ears.

After running for roughly half an hour, he heard the sounds of battle and voices coming from the forest ahead.

Yunju slowed down, landed atop a tree, and looked below through the leaves.

Tayuya stood beneath a large tree with a barrel strapped to her back. Her complexion was poor, and she had several wounds on her body, but she was still in reasonably stable condition.

In the neighboring valley were Sakon and Ukon and his opponents—the pursuing Kiba, Shikamaru, and Naruto.

Having already settled on a strategy, Naruto and Shikamaru continued onward, while the white-haired boy with red markings painted on his face, Kiba Inuzuka, was fighting Sakon and Ukon. Akamaru assisted from the side. Kiba was not doing well either, with wounds all over his body and ragged breathing, yet he still gritted his teeth and held on.

Tayuya noticed Yunju's arrival and looked up toward the treetops.

"You?" Tayuya frowned. "What are you doing here?"

Yunju jumped down from the tree and landed beside Tayuya.

"Kimimaro sent me," Yunju said. "He's waiting for you on the plain ahead. He told me to check the rear... Kidomaru and Jirobo, and have them come back to regroup early." Yunju took the chance to see who was missing from the group.

Yunju did not linger. He glanced at Sakon and Ukon's fight—Kiba's taijutsu was decent, but Sakon and Ukon clearly had not gone all out. They had not even activated their Curse Mark, merely wearing down Kiba's stamina and chakra. There was no need to help.

After shifting his position slightly, Naruto and Shikamaru passed right by him without noticing him at all.

Yunju turned and continued running toward Konoha.

Tayuya's flute began to sound behind him.

Yunju moved faster and faster.

He passed Tayuya, passed Sakon and Ukon, and headed straight deeper into the battlefield.

He did not know where Kidomaru and Jirobo were now, but according to Kimimaro, they should be farther toward Konoha. They might be fighting Konoha's pursuers, or they might already be on their way back.

Yunju considered every possibility in his mind, but his speed did not lessen in the slightest.

About twenty minutes later, a pungent smell drifted through the air ahead.

It was not the scent of blood, but something else—like burnt resin, or the lingering odor of something melted at high temperatures.

Yunju slowed and dropped to the ground.

He saw spiderwebs.

Dense spiderwebs covered the entire forest. Between trunks, between branches, amid the bushes on the ground—everywhere was coated in white, sticky spider silk. Some strands had already broken and hung limply from the branches, while others fluttered gently in the wind.

Yunju carefully passed through the webs and headed toward the center of the battlefield.

The farther in he went, the denser the webs became. Bloodstains began appearing on the ground—not a great amount, but scattered splatters.

Then he saw Kidomaru.

Kidomaru lay on the ground, his six arms sprawled weakly apart, his eyes open and pupils unfocused. A large dark-red stain covered his chest, spreading from his heart to his abdomen. At the center of the blood was an irregular wound—not one made by a sharp weapon piercing through him, but more like something had exploded from within.

Yunju crouched and reached out to check Kidomaru's carotid pulse.

There was no beat.

His skin was already cold.

Yunju stood and swept his gaze across the surroundings. At the far end of the web-covered battlefield, beneath a thick tree, someone sat propped against the trunk.

White clothes, white eyes, and a Konoha forehead protector tied around his brow.

Neji Hyuga.

Several arrows were embedded in his body—one in his shoulder, one in his abdomen, and one in his left leg. Every arrow had pierced through him, its tip protruding from the other side. His clothes were soaked in blood, and his face, hands, and neck were all covered in it. His lips were pale, his eyelids half-closed, and his breathing was so weak that the rise and fall of his chest was nearly imperceptible.

Yunju stood several meters away, looking at Neji.

He had already passed out.

Yunju slowly walked over and crouched before him. Neji's eyes were shut, and he gave no response. Yunju waved a hand before his face. Nothing. Then he checked the pulse at his neck—there was still one, weak, but beating.

Yunju crouched in front of Neji in silence for several seconds.

Neji did not know him.

When Yunju had fought Neji in the Forest of Death, he had worn Dosu's face. Dosu was already dead, killed by Gaara. Yunju now wore his own face—short dark-brown hair and delicate features, with nothing that could connect him to that bandaged Sound Ninja.

Neji would only see him as a passing Sound Ninja.

A passing Sound Ninja who belonged to Kidomaru's group.

If Neji were awake right now and saw Yunju crouching before him, his first reaction would likely be to grab his last kunai and stab it into Yunju's throat.

But Neji was unconscious.

He knew nothing.

Yunju stood and looked around.

A battlefield covered in webs, the dead Kidomaru, and the dying Neji.

There was no one else nearby. Tayuya and Sakon and Ukon were still fighting Konoha's pursuers behind them. Kimimaro was waiting on the plain, at least half an hour away from here.

Yunju had many choices.

He could turn around and leave, pretending he had seen nothing, and continue "searching for Jirobo." Jirobo should still be farther ahead, or perhaps had become separated from Tayuya and the others at some fork in the road. Yunju could find Jirobo, relay Kimimaro's orders, and return with him. Orochimaru would not suspect anything, and neither would Kimimaro. Everything would remain the same.

He could also kill Neji here. Neji had no ability to resist now; one shuriken would be enough to end his life. If Neji died, the Hyuga clan's branch family would lose its genius, and Konoha would lose a future top-tier fighter. Orochimaru would surely praise him for it.

He could also—

Yunju reached out, grabbed one of the arrows lodged in Neji's body, and snapped it in half. Neji's body twitched slightly in unconsciousness, but he did not wake.

Yunju pulled the broken arrow from Neji's body.

Blood gushed out.

Yunju tore several strips of cloth from his own clothes and used the most basic method to bind Neji's wounds and stop the bleeding. It was not professional medical ninjutsu and could not stop the internal bleeding, but at least it would keep him from dying of blood loss within minutes.

Neji's brow faintly furrowed in unconsciousness.

Yunju lifted him from the ground and let him lean against his shoulder.

Neji was light, lighter than Yunju had expected. Perhaps he had lost too much blood, or perhaps members of the Hyuga clan were simply not very heavy to begin with. Yunju supported Neji with one hand, adjusted his posture with the other, then stepped toward Konoha.

He was taking Neji back to Konoha.

He was not killing him on the battlefield, not leaving him here to die, not handing him over to Kimimaro or Orochimaru. He was taking him back, returning him to Konoha, to his own village.

The night wind blew from behind, carrying the scents of webs and blood.

Yunju's thoughts were a mess.

He had considered many ways to escape, but none of them matched this situation. He had originally planned to wait for the perfect moment—when neither Orochimaru nor Kimimaro was around, when no one was watching him, when the base was in chaos—then slip away in the night and run all the way to Konoha before stopping to say, "I am a descendant of the Senju family. Please take me in. I can prove that I am a member of the Senju clan."

But that had been a plan.

Neji had not been part of the plan.

Yunju looked down at Neji leaning against his shoulder. His face was white as paper, his lips cracked, and his breaths were shallow and quick.

"You owe me your life, Neji Hyuga," Yunju said.

Time rewound to more than ten minutes earlier.

Kidomaru stood on a tree branch, a kunai in each of his six hands, looking down at Neji on the ground.

"The Hyuga clan's genius is nothing special."

A mocking smile hung at the corner of his lips. With a casual sweep of his arms, several kunai flew from his hands, shooting at Neji with sharp whistles.

Neji's Byakugan had long since caught the kunai's trajectories. His feet moved rapidly across the ground, and he darted between tree trunks like a ghost, evading every kunai.

He could not let himself be dragged into a long-range battle.

Neji understood that clearly. He specialized in close combat, and the Gentle Fist's power could only be fully unleashed at close range. Once the distance was opened, he could only evade passively.

Neji suddenly accelerated, rushing at Kidomaru like an arrow loosed from a bow. Kidomaru leaped down from the tree, and the two drew close in midair—Neji's hands had already taken the opening stance of the Gentle Fist.

"Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"

His palms struck out in rapid succession, each carrying sharp chakra as they targeted Kidomaru's chakra points across his body.

But Kidomaru did not retreat.

All six of his arms rose at once, and a golden, metallic spike formed in the palm of every hand.

"Spider Sticky Gold."

The six spikes fired at once, not toward Neji's body, but toward the paths of his palms. Neji's palm strikes hit those golden spikes, but failed to shatter them—Spider Sticky Gold was a high-density metal that hardened the instant it left Kidomaru's body. The Gentle Fist's chakra struck it like water splashing against stone, utterly unable to penetrate.

Neji's heart sank.

Spider Sticky Gold blocked chakra.

The Gentle Fist's chakra-point sealing effect was completely useless against that metal.

Kidomaru gave Neji no time to think. Taking advantage of Neji's interrupted attack, he retreated and opened the distance again. This time, he did not remain on the ground, instead leaping onto a higher treetop and drawing a golden bow with all six arms.

"Fire."

Arrows rained down.

Neji had no choice but to use Rotation to defend. His body spun at high speed, chakra forming a perfect spherical barrier around him. The metal arrows struck Rotation, bounced away, shattered, and scattered across the ground.

Rotation's defense was indeed powerful. But it had one problem—it was not limitless.

Every use of Rotation consumed a massive amount of Neji's chakra. Kidomaru's arrows, meanwhile, required only a light pull of his arms.

A battle of attrition.

Neji stopped Rotation and panted. He had already expended a considerable amount of chakra, while Kidomaru stood on a distant treetop, breathing steadily and looking completely at ease.

"Your Byakugan really is impressive." Kidomaru tilted his head. "Three hundred and sixty degrees of vision. You can see chakra flow and see through objects. But you have one weakness—a one-degree blind spot."

Neji's pupils shrank slightly.

Kidomaru had seen it.

"On your back. Directly behind your spine." Kidomaru raised a finger and tapped a spot on his own back. "There's a small area there that your Byakugan cannot see. It's tiny, only one degree. But it's enough."

Neji instinctively adjusted his stance, trying to press that one-degree blind spot against the tree trunk.

"Useless."

Kidomaru's arrows came again.

This time, the arrows approached at incredibly tricky angles. Every shot cut in from the edges of Neji's vision, forcing him to turn constantly to defend. Yet every turn exposed his blind spot in another direction.

An arrow pierced Neji's shoulder.

Neji gritted his teeth and pulled the arrow from his shoulder, spraying blood.

The second arrow pierced through his abdomen.

Neji dropped to one knee, covering the wound in his abdomen as blood seeped through his fingers.

The third arrow pierced his left leg, pinning him to the tree behind him.

Neji tilted his head back and gasped for breath. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth, dripping down his chin. His Byakugan remained active. In his field of vision, Kidomaru stood atop a distant treetop, his entire body covered in golden Spider Sticky Gold like a metal statue.

Curse Mark: Second State.

Kidomaru's skin turned dark red, his six arms growing thicker than before, while the chakra behind him condensed into a grotesque shape. He drew a massive golden longbow, nocking an arrow thicker, longer, and sharper than any before it.

Spider Arrow.

"It's over, Neji Hyuga."

Kidomaru released the bowstring. Spider Arrow shot toward Neji's chest with devastating force.

Neji did not dodge.

It was not that he did not want to. He could not. His left leg was pinned to the tree, his abdominal wound was bleeding heavily, and his injured shoulder left him with barely enough strength to raise his arm.

Spider Arrow pierced Neji's body. Not through his chest, but his left shoulder—at the instant the arrow left the string, Neji used every last bit of strength to turn his body less than ten degrees, allowing the arrow to avoid his heart and lungs.

Agony.

But Neji did not close his eyes.

His hand grasped the Spider Arrow that had pierced his body, gripping tightly the spider silk connecting the arrow to Kidomaru.

His Byakugan had seen it. Chakra could be sent back along the spider silk. As long as his chakra traveled up it, everything would be completely reversed!

High-intensity offensive chakra surged from Neji's palm into the spider silk.

The chakra raced backward along the silk, faster than the arrow, faster than sound. It passed through the forest, through the air, through the string of the golden bow in Kidomaru's hand, and flooded into his body.

Kidomaru's pupils widened.

"Wha—"

His internal organs suffered catastrophic damage. They were not torn apart, but shattered. High-density chakra exploded inside him. His liver, kidneys, intestines, stomach—all his soft organs endured a devastating impact in the same instant.

Kidomaru opened his mouth, and blood poured from it.

He fell from the treetop and crashed to the ground, his six arms sprawled weakly apart. His eyes remained open, but his pupils had already lost focus.

Kidomaru was dead.

Neji leaned against the tree trunk, Spider Arrow still embedded in his shoulder, blood already pooling on the ground. His eyelids grew heavier and heavier. The Byakugan's field of vision narrowed, dimmed, and the world slowly closed before him.

Dawn was just breaking.

Yunju carried Neji on his back as he walked along the forest path leading to Konoha. Neji's head rested against his shoulder, his breathing faint but steadier than before.

He needed Neji alive.

Yunju adjusted Neji's position on his back and kept moving forward.

Konoha was still far away, but he still had plenty of time.